Wisconsin Time
Travel
____________________
Time Traveler
Dear time traveler,
I need your help discovering some of the
great secrets of Wisconsin and its history.
You need only to be curious about
Wisconsin and adventurous. Did you know that Wisconsin’s name
is from an Indian word? No one is certain what it means. Some
possibilities include gathering of the waters, wild rice country, and
home land. Are you interested in learning more? Are you up for
the time travel challenge?
Before we begin, let’s make a Wisconsin Fact file. Fill in the
information you already know. Then use an almanac, the Internet,
an atlas, or some of our other classroom resources to help you.
What is Wisconsin’s state motto ____________________________
What is the date of statehood ______________________________
What is the capital city of Wisconsin _________________________
Name three rivers in Wisconsin ______________________________
________________________________________________________
Name three lakes in Wisconsin ______________________________
________________________________________________________
What is Wisconsin’s nickname ______________________________
What is the population of Wisconsin _________________________
What is the largest city in Wisconsin _________________________
Who are your state representatives ___________________________
________________________________________________________
Who is your state senator __________________________________
Who is the governor of Wisconsin ___________________________
What is Wisconsin’s state bird _______________________________
What is Wisconsin’s state fish _______________________________
What is Wisconsin’s state tree _______________________________
What is Wisconsin’s state flower _____________________________
What is Wisconsin’s state animal _____________________________
What is our state song _____________________________________
What is the highest point in the state _________________________
What is the lowest point in the state __________________________
Imagine that a friend in another state has written to ask you about
life in Wisconsin. Describe to your friend what you like about
living in Wisconsin.________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Our first travel takes us back to thousands of years! During the winter it
snows and snows every day. The snow on the ground doesn’t all melt before
winter comes again. Years pass and the snow keeps getting deeper and
deeper.
Soon it seems like there are no seasons. It’s winter all the time! Close
to the ground the snow is being pressed so hard by all the snow above it that
it becomes ice.
The snow and ice get so thick and heavy that it starts to spread out at
the bottom. As it spreads slowly outward it pushes anything that’s in its
way.
These HUGE masses of ice and snow are called glaciers. The ice at the
bottom of the glacier may only move outward a few feet or even inches in a
whole year! Still, over time, mountains are carved away by the moving ice.
Glaciers crush rocks and push soil ahead of them as they continue to grow!
Glaciers
once covered a
large part of the
earth, including
most of what
we now call
Wisconsin.
Many of the
hills, valleys and
lakes which we
see are here
because they
were carved or left behind when the weather slowly warmed again and the
ice melted.
Fifteen thousand years ago most of what we now call Wisconsin was
covered with glacial ice. Some parts of these glaciers were over a mile thick!
WARNING: Don’t try this at home! The person below is jumping over a
deep crack in a glacier called a crevasse (kre VAS).
Slowly, the earth began to warm. Then the glaciers began to melt
away. Plants began to grow along the edge of the glacier. Then, about
13,000 years ago animals began to move into the area. Among these
animals were MAMMOTHS and MASTODONS.
The word mammoth means HUGE,
and that’s just what they were!
Mastodons were smaller than the
mammoth, but still very large.
Mammoths and mastodons looked a lot
like elephants. They had tusks and long
trunks.
These animals had thick, tough
skin, like elephants. Many had a thick
layer of fat. This fat was almost as thick
as your fingers are long! On the outside
of their skin was LONG wooly hair.
Sometimes, it was over a foot long!
Because of this, the mammoths are called
“Wooly Mammoths.” They lived in the
colder areas, along the glacier’s edge.
Why would the mammoth’s fat and hair
be necessary for living in Wisconsin
during this time?
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Mammoths and mastodons are extinct. Do you know what the word
extinct means?
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Fun Fact: One six foot man standing on the head of another six foot man
would have trouble reaching the shoulder of a full grown mammoth!
You might be wondering if people were living here during this time?
Scientists were too until recently when some Wisconsin scientists near
Kenosha found simple tools buried near mammoth bones. The bones and
tools are about 12,500 years old! The bones have cuts in them. These cuts
help to tell a story. Scientists believe that humans made these cuts. This
means that humans hunted, killed and maybe even ate the mammoth.
Wisconsin could be the earliest known place in all of North and South
America where people lived!
Many Archaeologists believe that the first people to settle in
Wisconsin may have come here from Asia. These people were called the
Paleo People. They could have crossed a land or ice bridge between the
continents of North America and Asia.
The glaciers had scraped deep into the ground. When they melted,
they left many things behind. In some areas, copper could be found lying
on the ground. The people
who gathered the copper and
used it to make tools are from
what we call the Copper
Culture. These people lived
here about 5,000 years ago!
That’s about the time the
pyramids were being built in
Egypt! Copper tools which
they made have been found
near Oconto and Potosi.
Later the peoples of the
Woodland and Mississippian
Cultures came to this area. The
Woodland peoples used soil to
build mounds. Many of the
mounds were built in the shapes
of animals. Some mounds can
still be seen today. Lizard
Mound State Park, near West
Bend, is one place where they
can still be seen.
The Mississippians lived in large villages and also built mounds. A
famous village called Aztalan was located near Lake Mills.
In order to better understand the people
living in Wisconsin during this time, it’s
important that we take a look at the land they
were living on. Wisconsin has five regions. A
region is any large area of land where the
surface is much the same all over. Each region
has been given a name. The names give us
clues to what the land is like there. When the
glaciers came through Wisconsin, they came from the north. They pushed
everything that was in front of them. Then, they melted away. The land
that was left was hilly in some places and flat in others. There were also high
places and low places.
A part of the Western Uplands was not covered by the last glacier. The
part is called the driftless area. Drift is the name given to rocks, soil and
other things which a glacier carries along as it moves. There isn’t any drift in
the driftless area.
Discuss what you think the land in each of the five regions might look like.
Remember that each region name gives you a clue.
Set time travel to the 1600s. Early Exploration
Most early explorers thought the world was round. They traveled west,
hoping to travel around the world to reach lands east of where they came
from.
They were also trying to get there by traveling south around Africa.
The new land they discovered was in their way! They believed that if they
could get past it, or through it, they could get to China and the East Indies.
They did not know how big North America, or the world, really was.
Explorers came to America from many countries. Some of those we
remember best came from France, Spain and England.
Who were the early explorers who came here? Where did they come
from? Why did they come? We know that Wisconsin was home to Native
Americans for about twelve thousand years before the first explorers came
from Europe.
The explorers were not wealthy. They were brave people who enjoyed
seeing new places. Kings, queens and other wealthy people paid the
explorers. They all hoped that their explorers would reach China and the
East Indies by sailing around the Earth to the other side. There, they
believed they would find riches! What they didn’t know was that there was
an entire continent and another vast ocean between them and China.
The French would play the biggest part in exploring what is now
Wisconsin. Samuel de Champlain was an explorer from France. He founded
Quebec, in what is now Canada, in 1608.
In 1634, another Frenchman, Jean Nicolet left Quebec. He, too, was
looking for a shortcut to China. He traveled by canoe with some Native
American guides. They traveled west. They
landed at Red Banks. Red Banks is near
where the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin is
today. It is said that Jean Nicolet believed
he had arrived in China.
He stepped ashore wearing flowing
silk robes and firing his pistols in the air.
He was announcing his arrival to the
oriental people he expected to meet. The
people who greeted him were Native
Americans. They were called the
Winnebago. Jean Nicolet had not found
China, but he was the first European to set
foot in what is now Wisconsin. The trip from Quebec to Red Banks had
taken about 10 weeks. There were many difficulties.
What kinds of problems do you think these early explorers may have
faced during their travels?
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Nicolet and other explorers of the time had no way of knowing that
they were half way around the world from China. Before returning to
Quebec, Nicolet traveled south on the Fox River. He entered Lake
Winnebago. From there he followed the Fox River south to the village of a
Native American people known as the Mascouten. This would be near
where the city of Berlin, Wisconsin is today.
It would be twenty years before explorers would return to Wisconsin.
The main reason for this delay was that members of the Iroquois Tribe were
on the warpath. Exploring in unknown territory was dangerous enough
without the risk of entering an area where the people were at war. When
most of the fighting was over, exploring started again.
In 1656 Medart Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson made their first
trip into Wisconsin. Over the next few years they gathered information
about the geography and Native Americans. They were the first Europeans
to discover and explore northwestern Wisconsin.
Groseilliers and Radisson were also the first to trade for furs
in Wisconsin. Many other explorers and fur traders followed.
Nicholas Perrot was one of them. He arrived in Green Bay in
1664.
The first big industry began to grow in Wilderness. Native Americans
had been hunting and trapping animals here for a long time. Did you know
the skin of an animal is called a pelt? Hat makers in Europe used beaver fur
to make a product called felt. Felt is a cloth like material made from matted
animal fur and other fibers. Felt was used
to make hats. These hats were very
popular. The fur from a single beaver
could be used to make as many as
nineteen hats! The fur of the beaver was
also in great demand for making warm
coats, robes, and capes. The fur of deer,
martin, muskrat, bear and other animals was also in demand. Beaver fur was
the most popular. In fact, so many beaver had been killed in Europe that
the animal became very rare there and the price for their fur became very
high. Once word spread back to Europe about the large numbers of fur
bearing animals in North America, fur trade took off.
Native Americans were experts at trapping and skinning animals. They
traded the pelts for things that would make their lives easier. Fish hooks,
traps, guns, knives, hatchets, kettles, mirrors, scissors, combs, belts, glass
bottles and cloth were some of the items they traded fur for.
Missionaries began to come to Wisconsin too. In 1660 Father Rene
Menard arrived at an Ottawa Village near where Ashland, Wisconsin is
today. He came to try to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. He
was the first missionary in Wisconsin. Eight years later Father Claude
Allouez came to Green Bay. Other missionaries
would follow.
It was not until 1673 that an explorer, Louis
Jolliet, and a missionary, Father Jacque Marquette,
would discover the Mississippi River.
They left Saint Ignace on May 17, 1673 in
canoes. They crossed the northern end of Lake
Michigan. Then, they traveled south to the waters of
Green Bay. From there they traveled the Fox River into Lake Winnebago
and re-entered the Fox River going south.
They had to portage their canoes and supplies from the Fox River to
the Wisconsin River. (To portage means to carry)
Today, the city of Portage marks the spot where they crossed from one
river to the other. About one month later they entered the Mississippi
River.
Set the Time Travel clock to 1836.
Before Milwaukee, there was… confusion! And there were a few
heated arguments, too!
Have you ever been to Milwaukee? If you have, then you know that
it’s a very big city. Today, it is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin. In
the beginning, Milwaukee was really two different settlements!
The name “Milwaukee” comes from a Native American word meaning
“gathering place by the river.” The Milwaukee River divides the city of
Milwaukee into the east and west sides. Long ago, when settlers first came
to what is now Milwaukee, they settled
on the east side. The man who led
these settlers was Solomon Juneau. He
was a fur trader and a businessman. He
came in 1818 and named his settlement
Juneautown.
Two years ago, in 1834, a man
named Byron Kilbourn came to the
area. He settled on the west side of the river. Kilbourn wanted new settlers
to live on his side of the river. He called his settlement Kilbourntown.
Juneau and Kilbourn spent the next few years
competing for settlers. Juneau had a ferry built to
meet travelers from Chicago and carry them to the east
side.
Kilbourne built a road and a bridge to meet the
travelers before they could get to Juneau’s ferry. Each
man worked hard to make his settlement grow bigger and faster.
Over time, they began to see that everyone could benefit if they
worked together. A bridge was
built between the two towns.
Just this year, 1846, the two
settlements have become one
city. The city is named
Milwaukee.
When the very first settlers
came here, they brought along
everything they could carry.
Many important things they
owned had to be left behind.
Once they got here, they had to
build their own homes and
furniture. They also had to
make their own clothing and grow, or hunt for, their food. There were no
stores, malls, phones, catalogs, or computers. As time passed some people
found ways to provide things which others needed. They used a Barter
system. This means that they would trade something they had for
something they needed. To barter is to trade without using money. Store
owners would often barter, too.
Set time travel to 1800s.
Your mission is to determine
how was an early Wisconsin
lead miner like a badger?
Early Wisconsin lead
miners were very hard
workers. They dug holes in
the earth, called mines,
looking for lead to sell. They often lived inside of their mines.
When people saw the miners living in their mines, they were reminded
of badgers. Badgers are animals with sharp claws. Badgers dig holes in the
ground and live in them.
Teasingly, the lead miners of Wisconsin were called “badgers.” The
nickname stuck, and Wisconsin became known as the Badger State.
The “lead rush” of the 1820s and 1830 brought many people to what
are now Iowa, Grant, Lafayette, Dane and Green counties in Wisconsin. Can
you find these counties on your Wisconsin map?
Notice that lead
was not found all over
the state, just in the
southwest area. Lead
was also found in
nearby areas of what
became the states of
Illinois and Iowa.
Lead mining was an
important part of our state’s
history, and the badger became
our state animal! Lead mining,
in Wisconsin, was at its peak in
the 1840s. About half of the
lead in the nation was coming
from mines in the Wisconsin
Territory.
Lead doesn’t appear by itself. It comes mixed with other minerals in
what is called ore. Miners could tell if the rocks contained lead ore because
it showed up in bluish-gray lumps or veins on the outside of the rocks.
There are different kinds of lead ore. One called galena is the most
common. Galena became the name of the city that was the center of lead
mining in northern Illinois. Later galena (the mineral) was also chosen to
be one of Wisconsin’s state symbols.
Over the years lead has had many uses. Native Americans used it for
tools, weapons and jewelry. It was used for making dishes and cups. Early
tin cans were sealed with it. Pipes
for carrying water were made
from it and it was used in making
paint. Today we know that lead is
poisonous. Laws have been
passed which limit the uses of
lead. Lead was so valuable in
Milwaukee that some businesses
accepted it in place of money!
There was a great need for lead. Not just here, but in many other
places in the world. Most lead was used for making shot. Shot is a round
ball which can be fired from a gun.
Guns, then, were different from the guns today. Early guns took a
long time to load. Gun powder, shot and wadding had to be packed into
the barrel of the gun. Then, only a single shot could be fired.
Because hunting was a big part of a settler’s day, guns were important.
After going through all the steps needed to load your gun, you still needed
to find an animal to shoot. If you missed your target on the first shot, you
needed to reload your gun. By the time you reloaded, the animal was
usually long gone.
Shot for early guns was made from
melted (molten) lead. Some settlers started
shot making businesses. Towers were built.
Lead was melted in huge kettles over hot fires
at the top of the tower. A ladle, a longhandled spoon, was used to scoop up molten
(melted) lead. The lead was slowly poured
from the ladle. It went down through the
tower shaft. As it fell, it formed into round balls. At the bottom of the
tower the balls landed in cold water. There they hardened into shot.
Shot needed to be a certain size to fit into the barrel of a gun. Because
not all guns were the same, shot was made in many sizes. Those pieces
which were too large or too small were carried back to the top of the tower
and melted again.
Some people made just enough shot for their own use. Others would
buy large amounts of lead from the miners. They made extra shot. Some
was sold to neighbors and to others who needed it for hunting. Some
businesses made enough shot so that they could ship it to other parts of this
country and even to Europe.
One of the most famous shot towers in Wisconsin was located at
Helena, near Spring Green. This was a very unusual tower. It was built into
the side of a cliff!
The building at the top of the tower was on ground level, at the top of
the cliff. The shaft of the tower was a hole. The hole was 120 feet deep!
Men dug this hole. The hole went from the floor of the building to a cave
below the cliff.
Water from springs in the cave was used to cool the shot when it
landed. Workers at the Helena tower could produce 5,000 to 10,000
pounds of shot per day!
By 1861 things were changing. Lead was getting hard to find. The
Helena Shot Tower
closed.
Today, Tower Hill
is a state park. A shot
tower has been rebuilt
there so the visitors can
see how it looked and
how it worked. When
the tower closed,
workers moved away.
The village of Helena became a ghost town.
Then…
Today…
Set time travel for the year 1836. Wisconsin becomes its own territory!
Lead was so important that it played a role even in early Wisconsin
politics. Henry Dodge grew up in a family that
worked in the lead trade in other states. Dodge
later moved to Wisconsin and bought large
parcels of land around what is now Dodgeville.
Mr. Dodge made a lot of money because of
lead. He used his profits to become an
important politician. The president of the
United States appointed Mr. Dodge as the first
governor of the Wisconsin Territory.
James Doty was another early politician. He was
also active in the lead region of southwestern
Wisconsin. He became a delegate to Congress after
Wisconsin became a territory in 1836. By then, the
lead region of Wisconsin was home to more people
than anywhere else in the territory.
When Wisconsin became a territory in 1836, an
official seal or symbol was designed called the
Territorial Seal. The governor used the seal
on important papers.
Take a look at Wisconsin’s Territorial
Seal. It has different symbols in it. Can you
guess what they might be? Why do you
think they are different than those in the
Territorial Seal?
Symbols in Wisconsin’s Territorial Seal:
Ore- Representing the lead, zinc and calcite being mined here at the time.
Arm and Pick- For the strong miners who worked the mines of the
Wisconsin Territory.
Date on which Wisconsin became a territory- Anno Domini is Latin and
when translated, it means “In the year of the Lord.”
Create your own seal for Prairie View Elementary. A seal is made up of
symbols. Pictures and words are grouped together to tell important things
about what the seal represents. Prairie View is an important place. What do
you think makes it special?
Between 1836 and 1848 many people moved into the Wisconsin
Territory. Those people were called immigrants.
Define…
Immigrant (IM-I-grent)_________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Immigration (IM-mi-GRA-tion)_________________________
__________________________________________________________
Most immigrants who came here traveled by canal boat through the
Erie Canal. Then, they traveled by ship through the Great Lakes. The main
port of entry for Wisconsin was the port in the city of Milwaukee.
Other immigrants came over land. These people could often carry
more things with them. The roads were bad and the animals pulling the
wagons needed food and rest. Land travel was slow. They could travel only
15 to 25 miles per
day.
Much of
Wisconsin’s farm
land could be
bought for $1.25
per acre. Many
new settlers came
here because of
the good farm
land. Land here
cost much less
than land in the eastern United
States or in Europe. Not
everyone who came here came
to farm. Among the others were
millers, miners, shoemakers,
coopers (barrel makers), printers,
blacksmiths, bakers, doctors,
shopkeepers, teachers, innkeepers
and builders.
Almost half of Wisconsin’s immigrants were born in a foreign country.
Think about the struggles these people faced. They left their homelands to
come here. Many carried everything they owned with them. It was not
unusual for immigrants from one country to settle in the same area. Their
neighbors spoke the same language. They worked together to solve
problems. They also worked with immigrants from other states and other
countries. They worked hard to make life in Wisconsin and the United
States better for everyone.
The United States has been called a “melting pot.” That’s because
many people from many different lands came here and learned to live and
work together. After a while they all “melted” together and became
Americans. Immigrants were
all different. They each
brought their skills and
talents with them. Today,
immigrants are still coming
to Wisconsin and other parts
of the United States.
Set time travel or 1836. Wisconsin Territory
The Winnebago Indians lived in the area before the French and British
settlers arrived. In 1836, the first legislature of the Wisconsin Territory chose
Madison to be the capitol.
It was a surprising choice.
The town was being laid out
but no one lived there yet!
The town that sprang up
between the lakes was
named or President James
Madison. The cornerstone
for the Wisconsin capitol
building was laid in 1837,
and the legislature first met
there in 1838. Madison was incorporated as a village in 1846, with a
population of 626. When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Madison
remained the capital city, and it became host to the University of Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad (a predecessor of what would become
known as the Milwaukee Road) connected to Madison in 1854. Madison
became a city in 1856, with a
population of 6,863.
Madison is the second
largest city in the state. More
than 190,000 people live
there. It is not only the center
o the state government, it is
also an important trade center
for agriculture. The city also supports thriving medical, dairy and recreation
industries.
Madison has many cultural
attractions. The University of
Wisconsin has its largest campus in
Madison. The University’s library in
Madison is one of the nation’s largest.
The State Historical Society of
Wisconsin is in Madison, as are the
Elvehjem Museum of Art and the Madison Civic Center. The city also
attracts people to the arboretum, a zoo, and to the lakes o a variety of water
sports.
Use the information above to complete each sentence.
1. Madison was made the capital of the Wisconsin Territory by ________
___________________________________________________________.
2. Madison was a surprising choice for the capital because _____________
__________________________________________________________.
3. Madison has a population of __________________________.
4. Madison is an important center for (name at least two industries) ____
_____________________________________________________________.
Set time travel for 1848. Wisconsin becomes a state!
As you learned in your last travel, Wisconsin became a territory in
1836. The territory covered an area much larger then what we now know as
Wisconsin. The western boundary followed the Missouri River. Wisconsin
didn’t become a state until 1848. At the time, there was disagreement
among members of the U.S. Congress on where the northwest boundary of
Wisconsin should be drawn. It was decided that most of the border should
follow the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. In making this change, a
complete county and its government was dropped from what would have
been a larger state of Wisconsin! This included a sheriff, clerk of courts,
judge and justices of the peace.
The people of Wisconsin would have liked to keep the county.
Representatives were afraid that statehood might be delayed if they argued
with Congress. People living to the west of that area were eager to set up
their own territorial government. They acted quickly to make use of the
county government which Wisconsin left behind. That county became a
part of a new
territory called
Minnesota!
To become
a state, a territory
needed a
constitution and
a population of
more than
60,000 people.
There were more
than enough people in the Wisconsin territory. In March of 1848 the
people voted. At that time only men who owned land and were at least 21
years old were allowed to vote. The constitution was approved with nearly
17,000 votes in favor. 5,600 votes were against the proposed constitution.
On May 29, 1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state of the United States of
America.
The first capitol was the territorial capitol. It was built on the southern
prairies at Belmont.
Although lead mining was a big business here then, lumbering wasn’t.
There were few building materials available on
the prairies near Belmont. Lumber to build the
capitol was brought here from Pennsylvania!
The building has been preserved, and is still
standing today.
We can’t talk about our state’s first capitol
without learning more about Wisconsin’s first
State governor. Nelson Dewey was born in
Connecticut in 1813. He grew up in the state o New York. As a young
adult, he studied to be a teacher and a lawyer.
He immigrated to the lead mining area in
1836. He settled in Cassville. Can you find it on
our Wisconsin state map? People who moved
here from the East were called Yankees.
In 1836 he moved to Lancaster. There, he worked as a lawyer. He
became active in the government in Grant County.
Shortly after Wisconsin became a state in 1848, Mr. Dewey was asked
to become a candidate for governor. He won the election and served as
Wisconsin’s first state governor until 1852. He helped design our coat-ofarms and chose the word “FORWARD” as our state motto.
Fun Fact: Our state is the 22nd largest state in the U.S. It is made up of 65,500
square miles (170,300 square kilometers).
During his lifetime he saw many changes. He lived through the rise
and fall of lead mining. He became a rich man buying and selling land. He
built a beautiful home near Cassville. He called his home Stonefield. There,
he provided jobs for many people.
Mr. Dewey loved Wisconsin. A diamante is a cool diamond-shaped
poem on a subject. You can write your very own diamante poem on
Wisconsin by following the simple line-by-line directions below. Give it a
try!
Line 1:
Write the name of your state.
Line 2:
Write the names of two animals native to your state.
Line 3:
Write the names of three of your state’s important cities.
Line 4:
Write the names of four of your state’s important industries or
agricultural products.
Line 5:
Write the names of your state bird and state flower.
Line 6:
Write the names of two of your state’s landforms.
Line 7:
Write the word that completes this sentence. Wisconsin is the
________ state.
____________________
_________________
______________
_______________
_____________
_______________
_____________
________________
_____________
_____________
________________
____________
____________
_____________
________________
_____________________
Set time travel for 1856.
The very first United States kindergarten was
opened in Watertown by Margarethe Schurz in 1856. She
was a native of Germany, which is where she got the
name “kindergarten” for her class. The German word
means “children’s garden.”
Set time travel for 1857. Choo Choo!
When the pioneers came to Wisconsin they found prairies and thick
forests. There were no roads. Traveling was not easy. Pioneers often
followed the trail of those who had walked or ridden horses through the
same area before them. Roads were nothing more than paths of dirt.
Planning for Wisconsin’s first railroad started about ten years ago (in
1847) and ran from Milwaukee to Waukesha. Now (1857) there are railroad
tracks laid all the
way across the
state to Prairie
du Chien!
Can you
imagine
traveling across
Wisconsin by
train in 1857?
Pretending that it is 1857 and you are riding across Wisconsin, write a
paragraph long journal entry below. What would you see as you looked out
the window?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The railroads were a great improvement. They could move people and
goods quickly. They made moving heavy loads of lumber, lead and other
goods much easier.
Roads were still needed to get people and goods to the places where
the railroads didn’t go. At first, those roads were dirt paths. With use, the
paths grew wider. Wagons pulled by horse or oxen made this happen. Even
so, roads were difficult to
travel on.
Later, roads were
improved. People worked
together and filled in holes.
They also moved trees.
Some of the trees were used
to make wooden planks. In
Wisconsin, some of those
planks were used to build plank roads.
Let’s travel back to present day for a moment. We’ve been talking
about early roads in Wisconsin but have you ever taken a close look at a
road map? Below is a road map of western Wisconsin. All those lines
represent roads! Each of them is named with a letter of a number. Each
road was built to help travelers get from one place to another comfortably.
Learning to read a road map is something everyone should do. You
can practice using this map. Find different routes between Milwaukee and
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Discuss with a neighbor why you think that one
route might be better than another.
Is Lancaster north or south of La Crosse? North
South
If you were in Marshfield, which way would you travel to get to Eau Claire?
East
West
Which direction would you tell someone to travel to get from Merrill to
Wausau?
South
East
To get to Ladysmith from Rhinelander you would need to travel which
direction? __________________________
Which highway would you take to get from Mauston to Baraboo?
______________________________
Which road would you take to get from Fond du Lac to Appleton?
__________________________
Does Highway 8 go through Tomahawk?
Yes
No
Set time travel for 1860. Anyone hungry?
Quick! What is Wisconsin’s
number one fruit crop? Is it apples? Is
it grapes? How about blueberries or
cranberries? If you guessed
cranberries, you were right.
The Native Americans here were
eating cranberries long before the
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
Sometimes, they ate the berries fresh.
Often, they ground or mashed the
berries with cornmeal and baked them into bread. Because the berries are
tart, they sometimes mixed them with maple syrup or honey.
A man named Edward Sacket came to the Berlin, Wisconsin area in
1860. He was from New York. He purchased 700 acres of land. On the
land there were large numbers of cranberry vines. He decided to go into
business! He was the first cranberry farmer in the state. Others soon
followed. Since that time, the industry has continued to grow.
Today, there are about 10,000 acres of cranberries grown in 18
Wisconsin counties. Most are in the north-central part of the state.
Wisconsin is a leader in the nation in cranberry production.
Cranberries grow in bogs. A bog is a swamp, marsh or otherwise
waterlogged area of land. The vines blossom in late June or early July, and
the fruit is harvested in the fall. At one time, the berries had to be harvested
by hand. Today, mechanical harvesters are used.
During the 1988-1989 school year the second grade class from
Washington School in Merrill, Wisconsin had an idea. They asked the state
of Wisconsin to make the cranberry muffin the official state muffin! There
was interest, but some Senators thought Wisconsin already had enough
state symbols.
Although they did not succeed, they did come up with a great muffin
recipe to go along with their idea. Here it is! Ask a parent to help.
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 egg, well beaten
1 teaspoon of grated orange
peel
¾ cup orange juice
1 ½ cup chopped cranberries
Sift flour, sugar, baking
powder, salt and baking soda into a
large bowl. Cut in butter until
mixture is crumbly. Add egg,
orange peel and orange juice all at the same time. Stir until the batter is
evenly moist. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups,
2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until golden
brown. Makes 15 muffins.
Set time travel for April of 1865. The Civil War has just ended!
The Civil War was a war fought inside the borders of our own country.
The fighting lasted just four years, from April of 1861 to April of 1865.
Sometimes, the Civil War, is called the War Between the States, or the War
between the North and the South.
Slavery and state’s rights were two of the main reasons for the war. The
Southern States were farming states. There were many HUGE farms there.
These farms were called
plantations.
Plantation owners
used slaves to do most
of the work on their
farms. Not all people in
the South thought that
slavery was a good idea.
The plantation owners
liked slavery because it
helped them make
money.
Friedrich Holdmann of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment
during the Civil War.
Over time, people who wanted to end slavery became known as
abolitionists (ab o LI tion ists). They worked hard to help free the slaves.
They tried to get laws passed forbidding slavery.
The states in the South wanted to be able to buy the things they
needed anywhere they could get them. Many of the things they used came
from Europe on large ships. Those items were easy to get and they were
cheap. Many of the same items were available from factories in the
Northern States, but they cost
more.
The Northern States wanted
to put a tax on things coming
from Europe to make them more
expensive. That way, the people in
the South would buy the things
they needed from the Northern
States.
New states were being
created from lands in the northern
and the western parts of the
country. Most of the people in
the new states did not want
Pvt. Charles Vallier 1st Wisconsin Regimental
Cavalry, Company M
slavery. Although, there were
some people there who saw no harm in slavery.
Abraham Lincoln was against slavery. He was elected President of the
United States in 1860. After his election, eleven Southern States decided
they no longer wanted to be a part of the United States.
The Southern States wanted to be a new country called the
Confederate States. This way, they thought, they could form their own
government, make their own laws and keep slavery. They elected Jefferson
Davis as their president.
Fort Sumter was a United States fort located in South Carolina. When
South Carolina decided to break away from the United States, Confederate
soldiers tried to take over the fort. The soldiers at Fort Sumter were loyal to
the North. (The Northern States were often called the Union.) The Union
soldiers refused to leave. When the Southern soldiers attacked the fort,
Abraham Lincoln asked for volunteers to fight, and the Civil War began.
Some of the abolitionists helped slaves escape to Canada. Any slave
who made it across the Canadian border was a free person. If you were
helping slaves escape you needed to be very careful. Although you might
want to help, your neighbors might not.
The escape route and secret places to hide were called the Underground
Railroad. There weren’t really any trains. It wasn’t really a railroad.
The places where the slaves were hidden were called stations. People
who helped the slaves escape were called conductors or station managers.
There were many secret places in Wisconsin homes and communities where
slaves were hidden. One of the most famous was the Milton House. It was
built in 1844. It was the first building in the United States to be built of
poured concrete. The builder was Joseph Goodrich. Mr. Goodrich was also
the founder of the community which grew nearby and came to be called
Milton.
Look closely at the picture of the Milton House. Just behind it is a log
cabin. This pioneer cabin was built in about 1837. The cabin is connected to
the Milton House by a secret tunnel. The cabin was a station on the
Underground Railroad. The tunnel provided a way to get food to the
runaway slaves who were often hidden in the tunnel.
Today the Milton House is owned and cared for by the Milton
Historical Society. The tunnel has been rebuilt to make it safe. Tours of the
Milton House, cabin
and the tunnel are
available.
On January 1, 1863 Abraham
Lincoln read his
Emancipation Proclamation.
In it, he freed the slaves.
General Robert E. Lee was the
leader of the Southern armies
in 1865. In April of that year
he surrendered to General
Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was
the leader of the Northern
armies. After over 2,400
battles on both land and sea,
the war was finally over.
Nearly a million people died
because of the war. That included
12,216 soldiers from Wisconsin!
Millions of dollars worth of property
was destroyed. The official records tell
us that 91,379 people from Wisconsin
took part in the war. That figure may
not be exact. Many who served may
have been separated
from their fighting
group for some
reason. When this
happened, they
joined another
group. Each time
they joined they
were counted again!
Over time, all of the Confederate
States were readmitted to the Union. This
process was called reconstruction.
Set time travel for 1870 and let’s go lumbering!
A sawmill is a place where logs are cut into boards and planks. When
the first sawmills were built
in Wisconsin they were small
businesses. The flowing
water of the rivers was used
to power the machines that
cut the wood. Early sawmills
were built to take care o the
needs of the people who
lived nearby.
By 1870 lumbering had become a BIG business in Wisconsin. Lumber
is measured in Board
Feet. A board foot is a
piece of wood which is 1
inch thick and 1 foot
square. In 1873,
lumberjacks cut over
1,250,000,000 (1
billion, 250 million)
board feet of lumber
from Wisconsin’s
forests!
Lumber Camp Language!
The words, phrases and definitions below are actual language used by
lumberjacks working in the lumber camps. Use the words to help you fill in
the phrases below. Do you have what it takes to be a lumberjack?
Job Hog
Dough Boxer
Wood Pecker
King Pin
Cackleberries
Big Burn
Timber Pirates
Sawyer
Cold Beans
Long Greens
Dentist
Direction Box
Johnny Newcombe
Gum Shoes
Make up a Hat
______________________ worker who chopped wood poorly
______________________ eggs
______________________ a compass
______________________ cash in a pay envelope
______________________ man who ran a machine or sawing wood
______________________ the logging boss
______________________ late for meals
______________________ men who stole logs floating downstream
______________________ a newcomer
______________________ a cook
______________________ take up a collection for a worthy cause
______________________ a big forest fire
______________________ rubber shoes loggers wore in the woods
______________________ a worker who took another man’s work
______________________ lumberman who filed teeth on saws
Try some lumberjack math.
1. A board which is one inch thick, two feet wide and 8 feet long contains:
22 board feet
18 board feet
16 board feet
34 board feet
2. A board which is one inch thick, one foot wide and 12 feet long contains:
15 board feet
12 board feet
15 board feet
24 board feet
When
lumberjack Fred
Smith of Phillips,
Wisconsin quit
working in the
woods he had
extra time on his
hands. To help
pass the time Fred
found a hobby he
enjoyed. He built
over 200 concrete
statues in the yard of his home. Concrete is made by mixing cement, sand,
small stones and water. Some of the
statues were very big.
Fred Smith was born in Ogema,
Wisconsin in 1866. He died in Phillips at
the age of 90. Can you figure out what
year it was when he celebrated his 90th
birthday?
__________________________________________________________
Although many people have hobbies, few have one like Fred’s. He had
quite an imagination! Some o his creations are very unusual. He liked to
place bits of broken brown glass into the wet cement of his statues before
they dried.
Not all
of Fred Smith’s
neighbors were
pleased with
his work.
Some
complained.
Many thought
he was crazy.
After Mr.
Smith died
there was a bad
storm. Many of his creations were destroyed. Some began to fall apart
because no one was taking care of them.
Thanks to the Kohler Arts Foundation of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the
park is still
open to
the public
and has
been
visited by
people
from
around
the world.
Set time travel for October 8, 1871. The Peshtigo Forest Fire
On the night of October 8, 1871, two huge fires roared through the
Midwest. One was the famous Chicago Fire. The other was the more deadly
Peshtigo Fire.
Long ago, great forests covered northern Wisconsin. By 1871,
however, settlers had cut down much of the forest. Mostly stumps and
brush remained. Then came the winter of 1870-1871. Not enough snow
fell. Later that summer, very little rain fell. Conditions were dry and
dangerous.
Peshtigo was a
small town in the
northern part of the
state. It lay at the
edge of the old forest
land. Small fires were
common in the forest
each fall. Usually, the
first heavy rains of
autumn put them out.
In the fall of 1871, however, the rains did not come. Small fires raged. The
air around Peshtigo filled with smoke. In late September, farmers and
townspeople began to make plans. They buried valuables deep in the
ground. They soaked their houses and barns with buckets of water. They
prepared to flee.
On October 8, several small fires merged. Without many trees to serve
as a windbreak, the force of the fire grew like a mighty storm. The fire swept
over 400 square miles.
It destroyed everything
in its path. Some 800
people died in the town
of Peshtigo. Four
hundred people more
lost their lives in smaller
towns and villages
nearby. How many
people all together died?
Today, the
northern forests have recovered. Trees blanket the land where wild fires
once roared. On the ashes of burned towns, Wisconsinites built anew.
Today little trace remains of the Peshtigo Fire.
Use the information above to answer these questions.
1. What were the weather conditions in northern Wisconsin in 1871?
____________________________________________________________
2. Describe the forest land around Peshtigo in 1871. _________________
____________________________________________________________
3. How did people in Peshtigo prepare for the fire? __________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. What is Peshtigo like today? __________________________________
Set time travel for 1874.
Abra Ca-Da-Bra!
Harry Houdini was
born Erich Weiss in 1874.
He grew up in Appleton,
Wisconsin, and took the
name “Houdini” from a
French magician named Jean
Robert-Houdin. Houdini
had the amazing ability to
flex every muscle in his body.
He exercised constantly, and
was even able to pick up pins
with his eyelashes!
Houdini began his
career as a trapeze artist, but
he became famous because
he could escape from almost any trap.
He even was able to escape from a
locked box that was dropped into the
water from a boat! The Outagamie
Museum in Appleton has several
exhibits related to Houdini.
Set time table for 1882. The Greatest Show on Earth!
This is what you would have heard if the Ringling Brothers Circus were
coming to Holmen over a hundred years ago. The Ringling brothers started
their circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin. They became world-famous for their
traveling circus.
The Ringling brothers were not always so famous. In fact, the family
name was not always “Ringling” either. The Rungeling family was originally
from Germany.
Their father changed
his name to Ringling
when he moved to
the United States in
1847. There were
eight children in the
Ringling familyseven brothers and
one sister!
When they
were children, their
father took them to see a circus. After that they were interested in
performing. They often played circus in the yard of the Ringling home.
In 1882 five of the Ringling brothers started entertaining people. They
performed indoors, on stage. They would dance, play musical instruments,
sing, juggle and clown around. Their names were Charles, Otto, Albert,
Alfred and John.
Many people came to see the Ringling Brothers perform. In 1884, the
Ringling brothers bought their first tent. A circus tent is often called a Big
Top. This was the official start to their circus.
To run their business, the brothers needed more help. They hired
other people to work for
them. Some of these
people were performers,
others sewed costumes.
Some of them helped to
set up the tent. The only
animal performers were a
trained horse and a
dancing bear.
Four years later, the brothers bought their first elephant. Their circus
business grew quickly. In the late 1880’s the two remaining Ringling
brothers, Gus and Henry, joined their five brothers in the circus business.
The brothers were able to buy other circuses. This meant that they
would have less competition from others. This also meant that their circus
got bigger and better! By 1907 the Ringling Brothers circus was the biggest
and most famous circus in the country.
Want to join the circus? If you did, what would your act be? Create a
poster below showing your act in Ringling Brothers Circus.
Set time travel for 1885. First Wisconsin Flag Day
In 1885, a teacher named Bernard
Cigrand observed the first Flag Day in
United States history. Unfortunately it
took another 31 years until President
Woodrow Wilson established the official
Flag Day in 1916.
Flag Day parade in Appleton,
Wisconsin
Set time travel for 1887.
Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Today, anyone
can grow up to be almost anything they want to be! When Georgia
O’Keeffe was a little girl, not many women went to school or held jobs
outside of their homes. Georgia O’Keeffe knew that she wanted to be an
artist. She worked hard to make her dream come true.
Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin in 1887. Her
mother wanted her
daughters to grow up to
do anything they
wanted to.
When Georgia
O’Keeffe was 17, she
went to study at the Art
institute of Chicago.
Later, she also studied at
the Art Students League
in New York and at
Columbia University.
In 1912, she took a job teaching art at a school
in Texas. While she was in Texas, she sent some
of her drawings to a friend in New York. Her
friend showed them to Alfred Stieglitz, who was
a famous photographer. Mr. Stieglitz was very
impressed with the drawings. He wanted to
meet this talented woman. In 1916, when
Georgia O’Keeffe moved New York, Mr.
Stieglitz introduced her to many of his friends who were famous artists.
Georgia O’Keeffe and Mr. Stieglitz fell in love and got married in 1924.
During her time in New York, she painted many beautiful pictures.
Many of these paintings are of things found in nature. Some of her most
famous paintings are close-ups of flowers. These paintings are very colorful
and lifelike. You may have seen these paintings and didn’t even know it.
Several years ago, the United States Post Office put some of them on
stamps! Today, two of these paintings hang in New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico. Her
paintings of desert landscapes and of the cloudy sky are famous all over the
world!
During her lifetime, Georgia O’Keeffe won many awards for her work. The
greatest reward for her was being able to practice the art she loved. She died
in 1986 at the age of 99. Today her paintings are proof that with talent and
hard work, great things can be accomplished.
Set time travel for 1896. The Hodag Hoax
In 1896, a man named Eugene Shepard
decided to play a practical joke. Although
nobody had ever seen one before, he claimed that
he had captured the elusive hodag. He said that
he had blocked in the hodag’s cave with rocks, and
then put it to sleep with a sponge soaked in
Chloroform. He traveled around to many fairs
and carnivals,
giving spectators a
chance to peek at
the creature.
So what was
a hodag? Eugene
claimed that it was
a black, hairy
creature that was 7
feet (2.13 meters)
long, its nostrils
shot fire, and it had horns all along its spine. It had short, powerful legs,
long claws and it would only eat white bulldogs. It would eat those on
Sundays!
In fact, the hodag was only a
hoax. Eugene was famous for pulling
practical jokes, and this creature was
just one more of them. Lots of people
believed it enough to come to see the hodag at the fair!
See if you can figure out the meanings of these words using the context
above.
1. Elusive ______________________________________________
2. Spectators ___________________________________________
3. Spine _______________________________________________
4. Hoax _______________________________________________
Set time travel for 1909. Do you know the words to our state song?
The music for what became the official Wisconsin State Song was
written in 1909 by William T. Purdy. Fifty years later, in 1959, a law was
passed, making On Wisconsin our official state anthem (song). There have
always been many different versions of the song. The words printed here are
the official words adopted by law. Your challenge for this travel mission is
to memorize the words so you can sing along loud and proud whenever you
have the opportunity.
“On Wisconsin!”
On Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Grand old Badger state!
We, thy loyal sons and daughters
Hail thee, good and great.
On Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Champion of the right
‘Forward’, our motto
God will give thee might!
Set time travel for 1919. Women
Gain Rights
When the Constitution of the
United States was written, its rights
and freedoms applied only to white
men who owned land. Over time,
people fought to include others in
these freedoms. Slavery was
outlawed. All men received the
right to vote. Workers gained
rights. Eventually, the nation
decided that women should also be
full citizens.
By the early 1900s, many
women demanded the right to
vote. Although they could not
elect leaders to change laws, thousands of women found ways to influence
decisions. Some marched with signs. Others wrote newspaper articles and
letters. A few women went on hunger strikes to call attention to their
cause.
Wisconsin women worked hard for women’s suffrage, or the right to
vote. Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott led the cause. She became one of the first
female doctors in Wisconsin. Olympia Snow also believed in women’s
rights. She was the first American woman to become a minister in an
established church. Another Wisconsin leader, Mathilde Franziska Anneke,
worked as a newspaper editor and teacher.
Finally,
in 1919, the
United States
Congress
voted for a
new
amendment,
or change, to
the
Constitution.
Two-thirds of
the states
needed to
ratify, or vote for, the Nineteenth Amendment to make it the law.
Wisconsin took the lead. It became the first state to ratify the Nineteenth
Amendment. Other states soon followed. In August of 1920, American
women won the right to vote!
Use the information above to answer these questions.
1. Before women won the right to vote in 1920, other people won
important rights. Name two of the rights people won. ___________
___________________________________________________________
2. Which amendment to the Constitution gave women the right to vote?
__________________________________________________________
3. How did the state of Wisconsin help women win the right to vote? ___
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Match the words in the left box with their definitions in the right box.
1. Amendment _____
A. the right to vote
2. Ratify _____
B. a law that is an acceptable practice
throughout the nation
3. Constitution __ __
C. people who could not vote in Wisconsin
until 1919
4. State assembly ____
D. an addition to the Constitution
and senate
5. Law of the land ____
E. the selection, by vote, of a candidate for
office
6. Election____
F. to give approval
7. Suffrage_____
G. the fundamental law of the United States
8. Women_____
That was framed in 1787 and put into effect
in 1789
Set time travel for 1922 and bundle up!
Wisconsin has long, cold winters
and warm summers. The lowest
temperature ever recorded in the state
was at Danbury in 1922: -54*F! The
highest, 114*F, was set at Wisconsin Dells in 1936.
Wisconsin’s average precipitation is about 31 inches (79 centimeters) a
year. Precipitation is water that falls to earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
The average amount of snowfall varies. In the north it is over 100 inches.
In the south, it is 30 inches. In an average year, how much snow does your
town get?
Average Monthly High
Temperature for Milwaukee
Month
Temperature
January
22*F
February
25*F
March
34*F
April
45*F
May
55*F
June
65*F
July
71*F
August
74*F
September
63*F
October
51*F
November
38*F
December
26*F
Average Monthly High Temperature for Milwaukee
75*F
70*F
65*F
60*F
55*F
50*F
45*F
40*F
35*F
30*F
25*F
20*F
15*F
10*F
J F M A M J J A S O N D
A line graph is one way to
show changes over a period
of time. Use the
information in the data
table to complete the
above line graph. Then
answer the following
questions.
1. Which is the coldest month in Milwaukee? ______________________
2. Which two months are hotter than June? _______________________
3. In which month is the temperature 12 degrees colder than in
November? __________________________________
4. During which three months are average temperatures between 40*F
and 60*F
Set time travel for 1929. Fort McCoy
Wisconsin has a
rich military heritage.
The last battle ship
ever made was the USS
Wisconsin. After
being in both World
War II and the Korean
War and sailing
around the world with
President Theodore
Roosevelt, it was decommissioned in 1958.
The Wisconsin was recommissioned in 1988,
at the cost of 385 million dollars!
The nation’s largest Army Reserve
training and deployment center is at Fort
McCoy, near Sparta. Fort McCoy was
founded in 1929, and named after Major General Robert Bruce McCoy. This
military installation covers 60,000 acres (24,300 hectares) of land, and
trains around 135,000 military personnel every year!
Over 20 Medal of Honor winners were
Wisconsinites!
Maj. Gen. Robert Bruce McCoy – Fort McCoy is named for
Robert Bruce McCoy. He was born Sept. 5, 1867 in Kenosha,
Wis. The son of a Civil War captain, Robert B. McCoy was a
prominent local resident who served as a lawyer, district
attorney, county judge and mayor of Sparta, Wis. In 1920, he
was nominated as the Democratic Party candidate for
governor of Wisconsin.
Read each statement and decide if it’s fact or an opinion.
1. The USS Wisconsin is a beautiful ship. ________________
2. Fort McCoy is the largest Army Reserve training center.__________
3. It was a waste of money to recommission the USS Wisconsin.________
4. Fort McCoy covers 60,000 acres of land. ________
5. The USS Wisconsin was involved in two major wars. ________
6. Wisconsinites are the bravest people in the United States. _________
At the same time that Fort McCoy opened…
The Wall Street Stock Market collapses in 1929. The state of
Wisconsin, along with the rest of the nation, plunged headfirst into the
Great Depression. It was the worst economic crisis America had even
known. Banks closed and businesses crashed… there was financial ruin
everywhere. In Wisconsin alone, more than one-half of all workers lost
their jobs.
While the nation was in the midst
of the Depression, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt became president. With
America on the brink of economic
devastation, the federal government
stepped forward and hired unemployed
people to build parks, bridges, and roads.
With this help, and other government
assistance, the country began to slowly, and painfully, pull out of the Great
Depression. Within the first 100 days of his office, Roosevelt enacted a
number of policies to help minimize the suffering of the nation’s many
unemployed workers. These programs were known as the NEW DEAL. The
jobs helped families support themselves and improved the country’s
infrastructure.
Put an X next to the jobs that were part of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
1. Computer programmer ___
2. Bridge builder ____
3. Fashion model ____
4. Park builder ____
5. Interior designer ____
6. Hospital builder ____
7. School builder ____
8. Website designer ____
Set time travel for 1939.
Wisconsin is home to over
300 known caves. In 1939, a rockblasting crew discovered the Cave of
the Mounds by accident at Mount
Horeb. The cave is over a million
years old, and is filled with
limestone stalactites, stalagmites,
and even has fossils in it! People
have found fossils of ancient squid,
called cephalopods. It’s easy to see
shy the Cave of the Mounds is the
most popular cave in Wisconsin!
Set time travel to 1959. Wisconsinites in
Spa-a-a-a-a-ace!
Not only will you find the world’s
largest refracting telescope in Wisconsin,
there are several Wisconsinite astronauts
too! Donald K. “Deke” Slayton of Sparta was
one of seven Mercury astronauts in 1959.
He also participated in the Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project in July 1975. Mark C. Lee of
Viroqua flew on the space shuttle in 1989.
His wife, Jen Davis, is also an astronaut.
Daniel Bradenstein of Watertown was a
Donald K. “Deke” Slayton
pilot on three shuttle missions in 1983, 1985 and 1990. Leroy Chiao of
Milwaukee was made an astronaut in 1990. These and other brave men and
women serve our country in the space
program every day!
Leroy Chiao
Jen Davis
Wisconsin has come a long way over the time thanks to some important
Wisconsinites. See if you can match the following using the name bank
below
Douglas MacArthur
Golda Meir
John Muir
Georgia O’Keefe
Ringling Brothers
Orson Welles
Aldo Leopold
John Bardeen
Frances Willard
Cordelia Harvey
Harry Houdini
Carl Schurz
Ada Deer
Albert Ochsner
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Belle Case La Follette
Vince Lombardi
Jean Nicolet
Father James Groppi
Arnold Gesell
Shirley Abrahamson
Margarethe Schurz
Richard Ira Bong
William Mitchell
Frank Lloyd Wright
Ezekiel Gillispie
Agoston de Mokcsa
Black Hawk
Oshkosh
Samuel C. Johnson
Vel Phillips
Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill
Walter Stewart
Solomon Laurent Juneau
_________________ A magician from Appleton
_________________ Football coach that led the Green Bay Packers to five
league titles, and Super Bowls I and II
_________________ A French explorer and the first European to have see
Lake Michigan
__________________ A pioneer in cancer treatment
__________________ The Hungarian count who founded Sauk City,
Wisconsin around 1841
__________________ A fur trader that was the first permanent settler in
Milwaukee and its first mayor
__________________ African-American pioneer who founded Forest,
WIsconsin
__________________ A world famous architect that designed homes and
buildings all over the United States
__________________ “Wisconsin Angel”; she helped found several military
hospitals in Wisconsin
__________________ World War II flying ace
__________________ In 1865, his civil-rights case forced the Wisconsin
Supreme Court to grant African-Americans the right to vote
__________________First African-American to serve on Milwaukee’s city
council
__________________ Created a paste wax for floors and founded a company
that still makes household cleaning products
__________________ Won two Nobel Prizes in physics
__________________ Sauk Indian chief that objected to the European
settlers taking over the Indians’ land in Wisconsin and Illinois
__________________ One of the founders of the environmental movement
__________________ Menominee Indian who fought in the war of 1812;
his efforts helped make the U.S. government grant the Menominee a
reservation
__________________ Five performing brothers
__________________ Became a doctor in the late 1800s, and treated the
people of Oneida in the early 1900s; Daughter of a Mohawk woman and a
Quaker doctor
_________________ Fighter pilot in World War I that learned to fly from
Orville Wright and commanded the United States air forces in France for a
time
__________________ Abolitionist, Brigadier General for the Union
__________________ First female Prime Minister of Israel
__________________ Author of the Little House series of books
__________________ Actor, star of Citizen Kane, who fooled the world
with his War of the Worlds radio broadcast
__________________ Congress called her the “first woman of the 19th
century”
__________________ Famous child psychologist
__________________ Fought for civil rights in Milwaukee in the 1960s
__________________Commanded the United States Armed Forces in the
far East during World War II
__________________ Advocate for Native American rights in Wisconsin
__________________ A Scottish born naturalist and environmentalist who
founded the Sierra Club, a world-wide conservation group
__________________ Opened the first kindergarten in the United States
__________________ World-famous abstract artist
__________________ First woman on the Wisconsin Supreme Court
__________________ First woman to graduate from the University of
Wisconsin law school
The painting of “Famous Wisconsinites”
(On A Rare And Sunny Day)
Set time travel for the future.
What will Wisconsin be like in the future? No one really knows. Your
actions today influence your future. They also influence the future of
Wisconsin. Everyone in the Wisconsin can contribute to make life better.
Have you ever heard of the “Wisconsin Idea?” No one knows where
the term comes from. Still, it has influenced the people of Wisconsin for
many years.
The Wisconsin Idea is simple. It means that Wisconsinites respect
education. They believe that the better educated you are, the better the
government will be. They feel that the state government, the university,
and citizens should work together to solve problems. As some people say,
“The boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” This
means that Wisconsinites want to apply the best thinking and newest ideas
to every area of their lives.
The Wisconsin Idea was already around in 1848 when the University of
Wisconsin was founded. To carry out the Wisconsin Idea, the University
helps people in Wisconsin. It trains specialists, does research to aid state
farmers and industries, and educates citizens.
You can help make a better future. What can you do? You can get a
good education. Learning science, languages, mathematics, social studies,
and language arts is a good place to start.
Volunteering is another good way to contribute to your world. There
are many ways you can help in your community right now. Giving your
time to a cause you care about is one of the best ways to make a difference.
All over Wisconsin people your age are doing volunteer work. They help
homeless animals at the Humane Society. They collect clothing and
household supplies for people who are down on their luck. They work on
environmental clean-up projects.
What kinds of jobs will Wisconsinites have in the future? It depends
on how things change. You can decide what you will do, and enjoy doing it,
by getting involved now. Getting a good education will help you
understand important issues and give you the skills you need to express your
opinions. Volunteer work will help you understand other people and the
world as well as yourself! It’s also a way to learn new skills.
Choose a partner and work together to create a mural of Wisconsin’s future.
1. Talk with your partner about what you think Wisconsin will be like 10
years from now, 50 years from now and 100 years from now.
2. Make a series of three drawings showing life in Wisconsin 10, 50 and
100 years in the future in your Wisconsin notebook.
3. Be sure to include in the drawings, the things that you and others can
do to contribute to a better life for everyone.
Resources used for Wisconsin Time Travelers
Text resources used…
Great State Wisconsin Newspaper Issues 1 through 9 of 2008-2009
The Big Wisconsin Activity Book! By Carole Marsh, copyright 2000
Explore Wisconsin by Houghton Mifflin Company, copyright 1999
Images and pictures…
http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/mineral/101intro/slides/glaciers/
http://sonnetsat4am.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://canoekayak.com/destinations/westerncanada/mastodon_tusks_shapera_art.j
pg&imgrefurl=http://www.canoekayak.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.spiritweb.us/egypt/Cahokia%3Dmound.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/widiv/images/wisconsin_bluff2.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.agt.net/public/dgarneau/photo/photo-k43.jpg
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.carvercountyhistoricalsociety.org
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jesuitpartners.org/images/content/pagebuilder/16260.jpg
http://www.cemeteries.org/genealogy/juneau.asp
http://reality-based-world.org/2011/02/21/in-todays-pseudo-random-wiki-link-people-3/
http://www.historicmapsrestored.com/statemaps/s-z/wisconsin1846.html
http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Barter_(economics)
http://badgeringdc.wordpress.com/
http://miningartifacts.homestead.com/Wisconsin-Mines.html
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2009/02/reclaiming-lead-from-used-pellets.html
http://randyroberts.wordpress.com/category/hiking/page/3/
http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Thwaites/Images/Page047.html
http://ookaboo.com/o/pictures/topic/2593105/James_Duane_Doty
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=64629
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEgermany.htm
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/history/immigrant.html
http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/transmiss/congress/winnebago.html
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http://scienceblogs.com/framing-science/2009/06/uw-madison_lecture_whats_next.php
http://annexx51.wordpress.com/pr-101/territorialism-in-the-u-s-maps/
http://www.anyflag.com/state/wisconsi.htm
http://stonefield.wisconsinhistory.org/About/History.aspx
http://www.froebelweb.org/images/schurz.html
http://www.expcom.com/abnpartv/PartV_10.html
http://www.wiroots.org/wiadams/phoalbum.html
http://wisemensvitamins.com/cranberry-juice-benefits/
http://craigkn.wordpress.com/
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/civil-war-wisconsin-volunteers.htm
http://www.1stwisconsincav.org/WisconsinCavArchives.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reallyboring/3703344156/
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/wi1.htm
http://www.news.wisc.edu/wisweek/wartimeline.html
http://www.neenahhistoricalsociety.org/page17/page18/page23/page23.html
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=24363
http://steamboattimes.com/rafts.html
http://www.ci.green-bay.wi.us/history/1800s.html
http://media.photobucket.com/image/lumbering+wisconsin+/PictureOshkosh/Lumber%2520Industry/pofh0214.jpg
http://www.cfa.ilstu.edu/cmkukla/art/index.html
http://flippistarchives.blogspot.com/2010/09/concrete-park-revisited.html
http://webpages.charter.net/dnance/concpark/concpark.htm
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullimage.asp?id=3728
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.thegreatharryhoudini.com/i/houdini_portrait2.jpg
http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/ringling_bros/ringling_bros.html
http://www.camelphotos.com/UScamels.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/118480/2173/Elephants-in-three-ring-performance-at-the-Ringling-Bros
http://www.jefflindsay.com/aplshots5.shtml
http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/4589-popup.html
http://www.observer.com/2009/style/love-it-or-hate-it-okeeffes-whitney
http://www.gargmag.com/2011/02/the-mysterious-midwest.html
http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/counties/wi.htm
http://www.worldwidehippies.com/2010/07/06/un-supports-womens-rights/
http://wisconsincitizens.blogspot.com/2010/10/whether-you-vote-democratic-republican.html
http://www.edupics.com/image-weather-symbols-i9955.html
http://www.theage.com.au/travel/obama-mania-in-the-capital-of-cool-20090108-7cnt.html
http://cmlnmbs-weather.blogspot.com/2007/12/wisconsin-average-snow-precipitation.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Wisconsin_in_Operation_Earnest_Will_DN-ST-93-00917.jpg
http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Fort_McCoy,_Wisconsin
http://www.mccoy.army.mil/AboutFortMcCoy/History/index.asp?id=History
http://www.subvertednation.net/the-great-depression/
http://rightdemocrat.blogspot.com/2010/06/fdrs-new-deal-still-relevant-to.html
http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/registry/usa_map/States/Wisconsin/NNL/CM/index.cfm
http://americajr.com/news/caveofthemounds0815.html
http://www.optcorp.com/edu/articleDetailEDU.aspx?aid=2581
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/American-Astronaut-N-Jan-Davis-Holding-Model-of-Space-Shuttle-Posters_i7119819_.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Chiao